Archive for the ‘Chicken’ Category

You think you’ve seen it all when it comes to burgers?! HA! I’m about to blow your mind and rock your taste buds with this Caramel Infused Apple Cheddar Chicken Burger. It has Caramel Creams® caramel sauce IN THE BURGER (and on top!). Prepare for deliciousness!

This post is being sponsored by Goetz’s Candy Company featuring their Caramel Creams® candies (which are seriously one of the best candies on the face of the planet!). All opinions of these ABSOLUTELY AMAZING candies are mine.

OMG guys do I have a life-changing burger for you today. Yeah I know, another burger recipe. There are 4 trillion recipes out there but this one, this one here folks is ridiculous. This one here is a game changer. This burger just showed up to your cookout, kicked everything off the grill and said: “No, I’M THE KING OF BURGERS now beat it punk!” Yah, it’s THAT GOOD! So let me dish for a few about this burger – it has candy IN THE BURGER. Yes, you read that right…

Just let that soak in for a second. I took one of my absolute favorite candies and put it in a burger. I know, only I would push candy and burgers to a limit like that. You’re welcome. When I tell you this is honestly my all time favorite burger, believe it. It’s super juicy, savory and sweet and full of flavors.

So how did this all come about? About 6 months ago when I was work, one of my co-workers asked if I wanted to talk a walk and get a snack from our little luncheon room. From the vending machine, he ended up getting a package of Caramel Creams®. As he opened the package I smiled as these candies were my Dad’s favorite. My friend offered me one as we walked back to our desks. As I unwrapped mine and popped it in my mouth something happened as I kind of zoned out for a bit. You see that little candy brought back so many childhood memories I shared with my Dad.

Just 10 minutes and a pressure cooker is all you need to make this SERIOUSLY DELICIOUS Barbacoa Chicken! It’s the perfect meal for weekly meal prep and when you want a killer nacho topping!

So remember my sharing with you a few weeks ago my experience with the mother of all nachos I had at this one restaurant? They were this ridiculously massive piling of beef barbacoa nachos that we ate for 4 days that resulted in a slight obsession in my house. Yeah so I had to do it, I had to make barbacoa. But I couldn’t just stop at beef (don’t worry, that recipe will be coming up soon!). Oh no, I had to also go with chicken because um, chicken rocks and it’s super high in protein. Plus when you do weekly meal prep, chicken is almost always a must-have.

Now this recipe is crazy easy. I’d say the hardest part was lugging out my blender from the one cabinet and then putting it away. I’m not one that keeps ‘stuff’ on her counters. Even my stand mixer that I use almost every day I put away. Yeah, I know… “but if you use it every day, save the effort and leave it out.” I hear ya and I used to be like that but Mr. Fantabulous hates ‘clutter’ and likes clean lines. Honestly, once I saw how my kitchen looked with those clean lines I was sold.

So as you read above this dish takes 10 minutes in the pressure cooker once it comes up to pressure. If you wanted you could most definitely make this in the crockpot – go with about 4 hours on high but you’ll need more liquid for sure. And if you wanted to make this in the oven you can do so as well. I would go with 300F for maybe 4-5 hours (though check it after 3).This dish will be a weekly repeater in your house!

Grab on to your hats as I’m about to blow your mind with one of the BEST slow cooker chicken recipes I have ever had in my life! Chicken cooked low and slow that practically falls off of the bone just by looking at it. And that Honey Balsamic reduction! Fahgeddaboudit!

Almost 4 years or so ago I was introduced to Brod & Taylor with their unbelievably amazing Folding Bread Proofer. Whether you want to proof bread dough at an even temperature, temper chocolate flawlessly or make your own cultured yogurt, this bread proofer is truly incredible! Plus when you’re not using it, it folds up rather compact which if you’re like me, you hate having clutter on the counters. This stores perfectly in one of my kitchen cabinets off to the side. For the past 3 years I’ve been using mine on an at least weekly basis if not more whether it’s for bread or my own yogurt. Seriously.. YOGURT. Then I teamed up with them on their Professional Knife Sharpener. Best. Sharpener. EVER!

Well they decided that they wanted to push the limits and expand the functionality of their Folding Proofer and include additional options with it. Today we’re showcasing their Folding Proofer & Slow Cooker! YES!!! IT SLOW COOKS TOO!!! Yeah, sink your teeth into that.. and while you’re sinking your teeth in to that I’m sinking mine into these EPIC Honey Balsamic Chicken Thighs!

Oh hey you’re back.. hold on a sec, let me wipe my face as I went to town on these thighs.

We’re talking this is a meatball game changer folks! This homemade blend of ground chicken and bacon, ranch and spices make up one SERIOUSLY DELICIOUS meatball! You cannot eat just one of these! And if you tried well, that’s just cruel!

Growing up Mom only ever made meatballs when she made spaghetti. They never were made outside of that. Maybe if she had leftovers she made meatball subs but she never set out to intentionally have meatballs be the main dish. And never, ever were they considered an appetizer. They were kind of like the “Plus 1” on a wedding invite. They weren’t really invited but it was assumed they’d be there. And if I’m being honest here, Mom’s meatballs weren’t exactly on the top of my favorite foods list for 2 reasons:

They had GINORMOUS chunks of onions in them. No no no no NO, never never never in my world, EVER!

She used the exact same recipe for her meatballs as she did for her meatloaf… and I hated her meatloaf

Now I didn’t have my first “OMG that’s what a meatball is supposed to taste like?!?!” until I was in my mid-twenties and I was on a date pre-Mr. Fantabulous. This guy (how terrible am I that I can’t even remember his name but I can remember the food?!) took me to this little Italian restaurant in the middle of no where for dinner. The place was old school – marinara stained red and white checkered tablecloths, old wine bottles with wax dripping down the sides and a waiter that spoke very broken English.Take your meatballs beyond the plate of pasta!

Easy, Healthy, Lo-Carb and Seriously Delicious are what these Cucumber Cups with Creamy Chicken Whip are all about! Cream cheese, chicken and spices whipped to a light mousse pipped into a cucumber cup. Um HELLO! YOU CAN EAT THE BOWL!

*WARNING – this post is deep and emotional* Wow, the end of January already. I’ll be glad when this month is over because this month has sucked for me royally. The only thing that has been keeping me going is all of the healthy and delicious foods I’ve been whipping up. With my sister’s recent passing I did something for the first time in my life – I went to food for comfort. Food for comfort, not comfort food. Big difference. To me comfort foods make you feel all snuggly and hugged from the inside. They remind you of a memory, something that made you feel safe, loved, secure.

Yeah, no, food was nothing like that. I was (am still) so devastated that I literally was empty; numb. It’s like you are so sad that you can’t even cry if that makes sense. Mr. Fantabulous did everything perfect (and still does) to help me through the initial days after she passed to even now however I still felt … empty. I would just wander around the house, tissues in hand not really looking or focusing on one thing. Even though not once did he ask for anything I would go out to the kitchen, cook/bake but it was like *I* was just going through the motions. I had no appetite yet somehow all I did was eat.. non-stop. So desperate to “feel” something other than sadness and pain.

…and that’s where food came into play. Food tastes good. It provides a type of satisfaction that is almost euphoric at times; it made me feel something other than pain. If it wasn’t nailed down or frozen solid I ate it. I did this for honestly about a day and that night I was sick as a dog. My body isn’t used to that. That night I didn’t sleep much (from being so sad and from being so sick – god my poor stomach) and started to think about what I had done.

So the next morning as I was making him his breakfast I started to reach for the jar of peanut butter and wheat bread (even though I literally ate a yogurt and protein shake like 10 minutes prior). I wasn’t hungry but it was like something my head triggered a “food = no more sadness” thought however this time I caught myself. So I figured if I was going to eat (because honestly I cared but not really) I’d at least make healthy stuff that wouldn’t make me gain 50 pounds overnight or make me sick as a dog. Plus you know me, I firmly believe that eating healthy does not mean you have to sacrifice flavor.Eating healthy doesn’t mean you sacrifice flavor